Thomas Jefferson Research Paper

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia. Jefferson had eight siblings, and was the third to be born. Jefferson excelled in school, studying 15 hours a day, taking interest in arts and languages, and went on to study law and become a lawyer. In the far future, Jefferson had the honor to be the first Secretary of State of the United States from 1789 to 1793. Also, he was vice president under John Adams from 1797 to 1801. This Founding Father was just getting started in showing his nation what he could accomplish. It was a day in 1801, the day when Thomas Jefferson became the third president of the United States. This day solidified the first peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another. Jefferson

When France was rivaling with Britain, Jefferson declared the United States a neutral nation. This allowed him to stay true to his isolationism policy. He attempted to resume regular trade. Unfortunately, Britain and France attacked American vessels to prevent them from making any money. In 1807, Jefferson declared an embargo, which banned all American ships from leaving the harbors to go trade overseas. This was an attempt to save his ships and his people. Although Jefferson intended to hurt the other two nations, France and Britain both learned that they didn’t require the United States to trade. Consequently, this resulted in farmers being unable to sell their surplus cornmeal and flour. Agricultural prices and earnings dropped. Over 55,000 American sailors lost their jobs overnight. With lack of money and supplies, people began stealing and smuggling from one another to get their needs. Industries that were correlated with shipping were ultimately devastated. People resorted to manufacturing things manually, and prices rose to unreasonable highs just to ship something domestically. In harbors, ships sat rotting away because they had no use anymore. For Britain, however, the loss of this trading partner was quite trivial. Jefferson had destroyed his country; it certainly seemed so. The Embargo Act was repealed by Congress in 1809, relieving his people from the time of difficulty he

What they never knew was that Jefferson would both be respected and detested for his choices as president. Thomas Jefferson, a man divided, responsible for doubling our nation’s property through the Louisiana Purchase. But, he expanded it even further by driving the Indians into debt and forcing them to give him land to pay it off. An advocate for public education and religious freedom, Jefferson also degraded blacks. Additionally, Jefferson caused a disaster in his country in the years of of 1807 and 1809, isolating the United States from trade with Britain and France. This hurt the country and its people tremendously, corrupting the Southern economy. Although Jefferson is admired by his many successes, he is also looked down upon because of his numerous faults and imperfections. With his death on July 4, 1826, Jefferson was a man who is to be unforgotten - maybe because of his accomplishments, or his numerous mistakes that certainly made him